


Desperate Measures

by werecadet



Category: The Aquabats! Super Show!
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Major Character Injury, Minor Violence, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2013-11-09
Packaged: 2017-12-31 22:57:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1037370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/werecadet/pseuds/werecadet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Aquabats! fight their deadliest foe: the Silver Skull and his giant mech, Skulltron! Jimmy the Robot makes a sacrifice to save his teammates, leaving them to pick up the pieces. One character feels the great loss more than the others, and comes to term with his feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part I

**Author's Note:**

> My second fic ever, and second written for The Aquabats! fandom, based on a dream I had. Written before Silver Skull's appearance in season 2, was going by his other appearances in previous Aquabats canon. Back in the day, he had a giant robot mech called Skulltron and could summon his own skull minions all willy-nilly. Regardless, I hope you enjoy! Warnings for non-graphic mentions of violence, major temporary character death, corny references to Star Wars, and lackluster angst writing.

Things weren’t going well for The Aquabats this time. Their old nemesis, Silver Skull, had returned and was currently summoning everything at his disposal to dispatch the heroes. Flashes of green fire blazed around the bats, emitting from the villain and his baddie henchmen. The Aquabats answered in kind, with kicks and punches and finger lasers and guitar lightning, but they were tiring out quickly. Ricky had been knocked unconscious minutes before by a solid blow to the head, Crash stood protectively in front of him, snarling like a caged tiger, daring anyone to hurt his friend. Jimmy, covered in dents all over his metallic body, exposed frayed wires sparking, dispatched two more with a barrage of lasers from his robot fingers, disintegrating them.

   The bloodied and bruised bats finally take care of the remaining skull minions; the Commander, looking fiercely animalistic with his broken nose and blood dripping off of his chin, dropkicked the last of them, it disappeared with a scream and a swirl of green flame. He spit blood onto the ground, and prayed that wasn’t his black magic tooth that came out with.

   Rising to stand on a broken ankle, an unsteady Eaglebones let out one last powerful riff on his singed laser guitar, hitting Silver Skull right in the chest  with a bright blue blast. The Silver Skull was blown back several yards by the force. Eaglebones’s ankle finally gave out and he collapsed into the rubble near his fellow teammates.

   Silver Skull unsteadily stood up. He dusted off his suit, almost mockingly. Pulling a remote from his pocket, he entered a code. “I do have one last card up my sleeve, one that will finally rid the world of you, The Aquabats!” In the distance, a deep rumble was heard, a sinkhole appeared in the ground a few hundred yards away. Out of the rubble and dust emerged a giant horned robot with a menacing face and a huge energy blaster in its chest. It began to slowly walk towards the bats, creaking as it shifted.

   Crash rose from where he cradled an unconscious Ricky and passed off his care to Eaglebones with a nod. He attempted multiple times to use his growth ability to take on the new 40ft menace, but he was too injured to be successful. Bones cries, “Crash, stop it, you’ll hurt yourself even further!” The big man sighed in defeat, seemingly only now noticing the extent of his injuries.

   “There is no one that can save you this time, The Aquabats! Skulltron will fry your brains with its lightning blast, once it charges to full power! You have 5 minutes until you are an ash stain on the pavement of this world!” He disappeared within a green flash.

   There was a resounding silence among the team. The giant robot’s booming footsteps became louder and louder as it approached.

   “I guess this really is it, guys…” moaned Crash.

   “It’s been a wild ride, homies…” the Commander said almost wistfully.

   Crash wrapped his arms around the two smallest bats’ shoulders and pulled them close. Bones silently wished Ricky were conscious to wonder aloud about his infamous talking pancakes. The Commander looked around wildly, wracking his brain for one final plan, for something to say to his best friends in their final moments, for an answer to anything. Even Jimmy looked emotional, but contemplative. He shifted his weight from leg to leg nervously.

   He tore off the now-tattered sleeve of his rashguard and seemed to be toying with his robot arm. The Commander looked over. “What are you doing, Jimmy?”

   “I’ve concocted a plan, Commander,” said Jimmy in his usual systematic way.

   “Well, then what are you waiting for?! Let’s hose this giant robot and get us outta here!”

   “That’s the thing, Commander…With this plan…I won’t be coming back.” MCBC snorted derisively. He pulled Jimmy off to the side and out of earshot of the rest of the team and hissed, “What do you mean, robot?”

   “The giant robot will seek out your heat signatures. Since I am made of metal, I can sneak up undetected, and disengage Skulltron from the inside. The probablity is slim that my systems will survive past the self-destruct sequence.”

   For a second, a dark look passed across the commander’s face, he almost looked like he might punch his robot friend. Instead, he wrenched both hands into the front of Jimmy’s rashguard. He sighed into the motion.

   MCBC spoke in a quiet voice. “Nonono, there has to be another way, I can’t let you do this.”

   “No, Commander. I am programmed to protect mankind. To protect my friends. That is why I was created. I have to do this.”

   The Commander adjusted his tone, trying to be authoritative, trying any way to stop him, and looked Jimmy in the eyes. “I’m the leader, I’m your Commander. It should be me!”

   Jimmy sighed. “I know you’d do the same thing for us in a heartbeat, Commander. But I have to keep you safe.”

   MCBC knew he was losing this fight, but he didn’t want to lose his best friend. His fingers were still twisted in the front of Jimmy’s tattered rashguard as his eyes began to well up with tears. “Robot…”

   Jimmy smiled almost too sweetly, trying to cover up the surge of emotion he could nearly feel coming off of the Commander. “I’m sure the Professor can build an even better robot for you guys…”

   Now the Commander really punched him in the arm, albeit lightheartedly. He smiled through the tears now spilling down his cheeks, smudging his mustache and dripping off of his chin, mixed with the blood from his nose. A beautiful sight, no doubt. “No one can build a better friend though…I can’t do this without you, we need you here, _I_ need you here.” He hurriedly wiped at his face with his frayed, dirty sleeve and winced when reminded about his broken nose.

   Jimmy looked shocked at this last-minute admission, eyes wide. His mouth opened and closed without any words emerging. He started again with finality, “I have to go now, Commander! The Skulltron’s weapons system will finish charging any minute!”

   The Commander glanced towards the advancing giant robot, unable to meet Jimmy’s intense blue gaze for long, the conviction and resolve to save his friends blazing bright in it.

   Jimmy gulped. “Just…be good, Commander. Make sure to read Crash’s bedtime stories to him, and make sure Ricky stretches before his runs, and that Eaglebones drinks his milk…”

   “I…Jimmy…I’m not ready to do this alone!” Panic rose in his throat, his eyes darting around wildly.

   “You can do this, Commander! You have to!” Jimmy grabbed the Commander’s hand, and brought it close to his chest. “Promise me!”

   The loud cry sobered up the Commander, steeling his intent. He grasped the back of Jimmy’s neck and pulled him in close, foreheads clunking together awkwardly. Jimmy shut his eyes, nearly unable to process the complex stimuli surging through his circuits.

   “I wish this could have panned out differently…I hope you know that I love you, Commander…” MCBC took his opportunity quickly. He leaned in and gave Jimmy a firm kiss on the mouth.

   “I know.”

   Jimmy smiled widely through his own synthetic tears, knowing how much the Commander loves his classic science fiction films. A genuine chuckle escaped him as his ears blushed artificially pink.

   Jimmy nervously gave him another quick peck on the lips, and clasped the Commander on the shoulder one last time with finality, hoping it conveyed how he was feeling. He nodded, and turned about-face on one heel.

   He took off toward the monster.

    The Commander seemed frozen in place for a number of beats, still attempting to process the gamut of emotions that transcribed over the course of a couple of brief moments. For a second, he considered going after Jimmy, but a bellow from behind him brought him back to reality.

   “Commander, we gotta split!”

   Crash was a few meters away, hefting an unconscious Ricky over his shoulder while attempting to steady Eaglebones with the other arm. “We could use your help, we gotta get Bones and Ricky to a hospital, quick!”

   The Commander shook his head to clear it. He began to hobble quickly towards them and motioned at them to run. “GET CLEAR!”

   The Commander ventured a look behind him at the approaching mech. The humming of the weapons system coming online intensified, nearly deafening.

   And then, all of a sudden, it stopped completely. The mech ceased all movement and doubled over, seemingly powering off entirely. A strange silence blanketed the ruined city block.

   A blinding explosion rocked the standing buildings that remained. Flaming debris went flying in every direction as the mech exploded from within. The Commander was knocked over onto his hands and knees, not necessarily from the force of the blast, but by the sudden feeling of loss and anguish that overcame him. He struggled to rise, ears ringing and head spinning. He stumbled some more steps and went down again, for the count this time. He blacked out.

 

* * *

 

    Days past, and then a week or so. It was all a blur for the Commander, drifting in and out of consciousness, like a buoy in a turbulent sea. He had no idea where he was. Just a few moments of lucidity, scraps of muffled voices and weird sounds coming and going, just flashes. When he wasn’t conscious, he was wracked with horrible terrors, but unable to recall them afterwards. Snippets of loud explosions, bright lights. Sparks flying, the taste of dirt. A cold grip on his hand. Slowly, they began to come into focus…a city…a city on fire, no, a city falling down around him. A great, engulfing, evil presence; the choking feeling of being surrounded by it.

   He came to.

   It wasn’t a slow, drifting back into consciousness. This awakening was like being set on fire and then doused in sand, gritty and rough and horrible. The Commander woke up suddenly, choking and screaming.

   His eyes snapped open, but were unable to focus on anything, glancing wildly around the room. Like a desperate terrified animal he thrashed about, still screaming incoherently. Strong arms grabbed him from behind, one around his middle and one wrapped around his neck.  Wow, sleeper holds really worked…

 

* * *

 

   The second awakening was much calmer. The lights were dimmed in the room but the Commander still recognized it as the main area of the BattleTram. They must have placed the cot in here to keep an eye on him. He blinked and looked around to focus his vision. It must have been late.

   A low, quiet moan escaped from the Commander, alerting Crash to his friend’s awakening. He was previously asleep in the chair pulled up next to the cot. No one wanted a repeat of last time, and Crash would be the only one around able to restrain the Commander if it came to that again. He tensed as he watched the Commander shift slightly, leaning over and ready to react. He was mouthing words nearly incoherently, but Crash could make out his name, and the names of his teammates. Unsure of how to comfort him, he reached out and grasped the Commander’s hand.

   At that, he finally ceased tossing and turned to face Crash. The Commander looked a little dazed, but much better than how he was before! The man in the cot grinned crookedly. “H-how y’doin’, bud?” he asked hoarsely. Crash perked up immediately and shoved a paper cup of water into his hand, “I’m okay, Commander! All fixed up! How are you feeling?!” Before he could even open his mouth with an answer, Crash turned and bellowed, “GUYS! The Commander’s AWAKE!”

   Wincing from the jolt and dropping the now-empty cup of water, the Commander shimmied slowly to a seated position. He was very sore from his injuries, but it seems whoever patched him up took a lot of care in doing it well. He smiled as he thought to himself. _Probably Jimm—_ oh. His smile fell off of his face as the realization hit him, feeling a whole lot like if one were to get hit by a freight train, he figured. Wow.

   He wasn’t giving any more time to think much on it, as the rest of his team burst into the room, practically falling over themselves to get inside. As happy as he was to see them so eager to see their Commander and friend awake, the events leading up to what happened to Jimmy left him speechless, the blood rushing in his head, deafening him to their exclamations and questions.

   Tears welled up in his eyes suddenly as he curled in on himself. He wrapped his arms tightly around his knees and turned away from them to look out the window towards the lab. Jimmy’s lab. How could they be so happy when their teammate was gone, their family was broken? He still couldn’t hear much over the pounding in his ears, but Bones grabbed his shoulder and shook it, gesturing to the side table.

   The Commander made a face. So what? His mushy teammates left him flowers. Uh, lots of flowers actually. Huh. And in beakers? In addition to the bunches in wide beakers, single flowers were placed in individual test tubes in racks on the table. He turned back to his team, confused and still upset.

   But what he saw next he wasn’t prepared for, not in his most wild, infection-wrought fever dreams. In the doorway, teetered a shaky robot, gears whirring noisily. He was panting from exertion and leaned on the doorframe, catching his breath. Or whatever robots do to recover.

   Upon closer inspection, he looked, frankly, awful. He was dented all over, perforations scattered all over the exposed metal on his body. His advanced synthetic skin sported actual bruises, cuts, and burn marks. Wires stuck out of joints and he was missing an entire arm. But to the shocked Commander, it was the most fantastic sight he’d ever seen. Jimmy’s impossibly blue eyes shone bright despite his state, brighter than the artificial light that illuminated them.

   Before he even realized it, he was out of bed and standing shakily before Jimmy. He reached out to touch the side of Jimmy’s neck, careful not to shock himself on some of the still-exposed circuitry. He swallowed. “Wow…you look horrible, buddy…”

   Jimmy smiled as he leaned into the touch, snorting in amusement. Bones laughed to himself, “Not the most romantic first words…” Ricky started to protest the insult, “Commander! Don’t insult him! Crash and I went through a lot of trouble and gross junk to get his parts back! And Bones worked his butt off to put him back together!”

   But neither were really listening to the others, they might as well have been the last two people on Earth. Person and robot? Cyborg? Whatever, man.

   They leaned closer to one another, unable to tell if it was due to their physical condition or the stomach butterflies. The Commander stared wide-eyed for a few more seconds, his mind going a mile a minute. Winging it, he grabbed and pulled Jimmy close and smashed their lips together.

   BZZzzzzzzzZZZZZT!!!

   The Commander was met with not quite the shock he was looking for. He pulled away in surprise, his hair frizzed in every which direction. Bones chuckled, “There’s a joke in there somewhere…” The Commander just grinned wide, looking nearly crazed. He pondered a moment and pecked Jimmy again, giggling. “Ha…static…!”

   Jimmy, while elated at the exuberant reunion, looked a little more concerned for the man’s wellbeing. “Commander…perhaps you should lie back down, it’s been a harrowing couple of weeks…” “WEEKS?! I’ve been out for plural WEEKS?!” When he realized no one was going along with the joke, he continued, “No way, man! I’ve got like…a month’s worth of robot smoochin’ to make up for!”

   Shaking his head, Jimmy gestured to Crash, who walked over and lifted the Commander up with ease. Like a weak kitten, he sobered up, today’s events catching up and hitting him hard as he attempted to yawn out a protest. Crash made a big effort to tuck him back into bed and get him comfortable.

   Bones turned to Jimmy, who was watching the scene with great fondness. “Alright, we should get back to work getting you back together, robot…” At the thought of Jimmy leaving again, even to just go next door, the Commander began to panic, eyes darting about. His heart rate quickened, but was too afraid to say anything.

   However, Jimmy’s sensors picked up on the change immediately and he shook his head. “I’d like to stay here if it’s alright, for now.” He carefully sat down in Crash’s newly unoccupied chair and took the Commander’s broad hand in his cold metal one. He was nearly asleep, but he squeezed back lightly in gratitude.

   Bones began to object, starting to argue that he wanted to finish soon to avoid any damage from exposure, but Crash and Ricky silently escorted him from the room. Fine, he’d come back later. They best not be canoodling or anything gross when he did return to reattach Jimmy’s other arm.


	2. Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part II to Desperate Measures, more like part one of an epilogue.

They were canoodling when he reentered.

   Eaglebones released an exasperated sigh. They were both on the small cot, fast asleep. The two were facing each other and wrapped so tightly around one another, even Bones could almost admit it was cute. Almost.

   He shook his head to clear it again. He was way too metal for such mushy thoughts. Walking over to Jimmy’s side of the cot, Bones shook him awake. Blue eyes snapped open as Jimmy came back online with a jolt, systems still not 100% back to normal. The static discharge unceremoniously shocked the Commander awake as well and nearly onto the floor. The shock traveled through Bones as well, up his arm and setting his teeth on edge. Good thing he didn’t send in Ricky—his braces would have flashed and sparked.

   Now that everyone was suitably awakened and extricated from one another, Bones cleared his throat. “Umm…I’m gonna reattach that arm of yours now, Jimmy. The Professor finally sent me all of the replacement parts! I’ll work in here, if that’s okay. I got some lunch for the Commander to keep him occupied while we work.” Bones presented him with a sandwich baggie and a bottle of sports water. It looked like one of Ricky’s gross healthy meals, but the Commander was in no position to complain, given how hungry he was. He thanked Eaglebones and sat up to begin wolfing his meal down. Bones grabbed his toolbox and Jimmy’s manual and set out to work.

   Hours passed by quickly and Bones was pleasantly surprised at how he was enjoying himself despite the hard work. He was adjusting to the Commander’s and Jimmy’s ‘upgraded’ relationship with as much ease he could muster. He couldn’t imagine either without the other, so all of this hard work repairing Jimmy was worth it. Seeing the robot so much more animated in the Commander’s presence was evidence enough. He actually enjoyed watching them interact, Jimmy trying to get the crumbs off of the Commander’s front (he insisted on seconds and thirds of Ricky’s weird veggie sandwiches) without jostling Bones’ delicate wiring work. The Commander was complaining that he was still hungry and saving the crumbs for later. Even Bones chuckled, but would never admit it in a court of law.

   He soldered a few more wires and finally declared the arm reattached. Jimmy’s brain took a few seconds to re-register and realign the new limb, flexing the fingers on his hand. He turned to the Commander with a broad grin and pulled him into a crushing hug, careful not to shock the still-recovering patient again. The Commander gingerly hugged back, kissing the top of his dented helmet. Jimmy gave one last squeeze and turned back to face Bones. Smiling again, he reached out and pulled Bones into a hug too, thanking him profusely for his hard work the past few weeks.

   Bones protested, saying he wasn’t finished yet, that there was still so much cosmetic work and fine tuning—The Commander cut him off with a surprise hug of his own, wrapping his arms tightly around them both.

   “Alright, alright…” he began, just as Crash and Ricky burst into the room, as if they had a sixth sense for group hugs. Bones was now sufficiently covered in exuberant teammates, laughing uproariously as Crash wrapped around all of them and littered all of their heads with kisses.

   Their family was whole again.


	3. Part III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part III to Desperate Measures, more like the second part of an epilogue. Fluffy fluff fluff.

After a few days of absolute _torture_ being confined to bed, the whining drama queen that was their Commander got all but kicked out of his makeshift hospital ward. He was charged with being a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad patient by Ricky, who had been doing all of the medical legwork while Eaglebones repaired Jimmy. Crash was designated his visitng nurse, since he was declared to be the most patient and gentle and didn’t poke the Commander like the mean nurse with the braces. He mainly just sat around and played video games with the Commander and made him cocoa and stuff, making sure everything was healing nicely now that he was up and about.

Bones was the first to ban him from the lab where he was repairing Jimmy. He wasn’t in any danger or anything, but his work was taking twice as long to complete as it should have. The ban was better for everyone in the long run.

The Commander was currently sulking in the cockpit of the Battletram. keeping bad company with Ricky driving. The other Aquabat whined at the 9th or 10th exasperated sigh he heard in a single minute span. “Is it really that awful hanging out with me, Commander?” MCBC pouted again. “I just feel like I missed out on so much while I was out of commission…I keep feeling like I have to catch up or I’ll go crazy. Also, yes.” Ricky punched him lightly in the arm.

 

* * *

 

Later, much later, after the Commander had annoyed every other Aquabat into banishing him from their sight (even Crash, it was quite an ugly scene for all witnesses), Bones turned to Jimmy and declared his work finally done. Jimmy stretched his joints some to get adjusted to his completely restored body and stared at Eaglebones. _Pfft, robots._ He rolled his eyes and made a motion to shoo the robot from the lab. Jimmy squeezed him tight in gratitude. “Okay, okay. No more hugging. You’re ruining my image, bro. Get outta here.” Jimmy nodded appreciatively and left the room, smiling.

The Commander was lying in his bunk, idly jamming buttons on a handheld game when the robot knocked politely on the doorframe. “Jimmy!” he exclaimed excitedly. “All fixed up, buddy?” Jimmy looked down at his body and looked back up at the Commander with a grin. “Seems to be the case, Commander! Good as new.” The Commander looked back and forth conspiratorially, not wanting the guys to overhear him being potentially mushy before whispering, “’Bout time, I needed my cuddle pillow back.” He scooted over in his bunk and patted the space next to him. Jimmy tentatively climbed up and gingerly laid down next to the Commander.

In an instant, he wrapped his arms and legs around the robot and got comfortable before asking, “Why’d you give me so many flowers, you nerd?” Jimmy thought hard before replying, “I read that humans ritualistically give flowers to their romantic interests or quote unquote ‘significant others’…I figured that I would give many to convey how much affection I had for you, Commander…many apologies if I misinterpreted our interactions improperly or that they were inadequate. I just thought—” The Commander silenced the robot by kissing him soundly on the mouth. “The were plenty adequate, Jimmy, stop worrying…”

His expression softened. “…thanks, nerd alert.” He rolled his eyes and kissed the surprised robot again on the cheek before settling back down. He flopped onto the robot’s chest and tucked his head under Jimmy’s chin, yawning. “…good to have you back, robot. Mmm…love you, Jimmy…” he mumbled appreciatively as he quickly drifted off to sleep. Jimmy gently wrapped his arms around the man’s shoulders and pressed a kiss in return to the top of the Commander’s head. “I know.”


End file.
